Facebook vote ends experiment with democracy

Facebook has closed the polls on letting democracy rule when it comes to policy changes.

A referendum to strip Facebook users of the power to endorse or reject policy changes through popular vote was opposed by a majority of voters, but not enough people cast ballots to make the results binding.

The referendum was opposed by 87 per cent of the 668,125 members who cast ballots, according to a posting on the Facebook governance site.

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But Facebook had indicated that if fewer than 30 per cent of Facebook's 1 billion users voted, the California-based company would be free to go forward with a plan to eliminate the voting structure and integrate Instagram data for advertising purposes.

A week ago, Facebook asked its members to vote on an overhaul of privacy and other policies in what became the last binding referendum of its kind at the huge social network.

The social media giant, which has drawn fresh fire from privacy activists for the proposed changes on how it manages users' data, said the poll would be binding only if it gets responses from 30 per cent of members — roughly 300 million people.

The changes end the voting process, and also would permit sharing of information with Instagram.

Additionally, the changes would make it easier for advertisers and others to send messages on Facebook, limiting users' control, according to privacy rights groups.

Activists have raised a ruckus, saying the new policies, if implemented, could violate some laws or Facebook's agreement with US regulators earlier this year after complaints from privacy groups.